Write a brief to help conversation leaders write compelling 'case for' blog posts

[kat]

We need to make clear cases for the areas of reform to present to organisations, so that they can quickly and easily assess if they would like to show their support for reform in each area.

Civil society participants who have been working on particular reform areas under consideration in Australia's first Open Government Partnership National Action Plan will write 'the case for' each reform area next week.

These will also be useful as an introduction when taking the discussion out to a wider group when there is an opportunity for public participation if and when government comes back with a commitment in this area.

A brief. We've discussed word count should be no more than 800 words. Next we need a few questions that everyone should answer in discussing the case for each reform area proposed.

Note: the format we used to introduce reform areas and individual proposed commitments before was adopted in Towards an Open Government Manifesto. This piece collected together a set of commitments that were proposed during a workshop session in Canberra in April. There are now a different set of reforms proposed with some overlap.

[kat]

Outline of areas of reform that remain under discussion for Australia's first Open Government National Action Plan come from the Interim Working Group meeting minutes

Members of Australia’s Open Government Partnership Interim Working Group met on September 19th and "discussed the scope, ambition and details of the following proposed commitments and agreed for lead civil society representatives to work with relevant government members to update the draft commitment templates out-of-session: • Work towards compliance with the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative. - - Mark /Phil Newman • Improve whistle-blower protections in the corporate sector. Mark Zimsak/Phil Newman • Assess Australia’s compliance with the Open Contracting Data Standard. - - Mark Zimsak/Peter Timmins • Explore options for a beneficial ownership register for companies. Mark Zimsak/Phil Newman • Improve whistle-blower protections in the corporate sector. Mark Zimsak/Phil Newman • Digitally transforming the delivery of government services. ? PM&C - Helen Owens • Delivery of Australia’s OGP National Action Plan. ? PM&C - Helen Owens • Identify and release high-value datasets and enable data-driven innovation. Maree Ashead • Build and maintain public trust to address concerns about data sharing. Maree Ashead

• Review and modernise information management and access laws Peter Timmins • Enhanced integrity system (Attorney-General’s Department and Dr Coghill). Ken Coghill • Confidence in electoral/political finance systems and political parties (Department of Finance and Dr Coghill). Ken Cohill • Metrics on information access rights (PM&C, National Archives of Australia, Office of the Australian Information Commissioner, and Information and Privacy Commission NSW). Elisabeth Tydd (NSW Gov) • Improve public participation and engagement (PM&C and Ms Szuminska). Kat Szuminska Members discussed the possibility of merging the following proposed commitments: • Improve the discoverability and accessibility of government information, with build public data infrastructure Maree Ashead

• Ongoing Dialogue with Gov & Civil Society - Peter, Kat

[kat]

Added some of the Interim Working Group civil society names for as many of the draft proposed commitment areas. In bold, those I've not confirmed a civil society contact for.

They'll

• 'case for/open letters' including each of these in Australia's first national action plan
• be the contact point for organisations who wish to express their support for including these in the first national action plan

To me, the ODI appears largely connected with the case for more open data, and more business use from open data. Maree suggests that's not entirely the case, so I've asked her to outline the ODI's interests in this space in her introduction to 'the case for/open letter' on open data related commitments.

[kat]

I missed EITI before. Just added it to the list above (cut and paste error - my bad - it was the first item at the bottom of a page and the rest overleaf and I overlooked it)

[kat]

@asherwolfie please can you write the brief here?

[asherwolfie]

The aim of these posts is to “catch people up” to where the OGP Interim Working Group is currently at and to enable organisations to consider their position on the proposed committments.

Think of the post that you’re creating as a public primer for people who have no idea about what the OGPAU has been working on.

Try to give the audience as much detail as possible, while avoiding areas not yet open for public consideration. Use simple language.

Include details about where the creation of the NAP is up to on these commitments where possible and details of submissions if available. Let people know who has been primarily responsible for drafting NAP commitments in these areas.

Offer a way for people to get involved or contribute (eg. email, wiki, submissions if open, and the hashtag #OGPAU.)

Start with an introduction on why this commitment has been included in the OGPAU and why it is considered important to open government.

Include details of the different areas or options that have been under consideration, why particular options are not currently on the table, and what commitments may be open to discussion in the future.

Consider including details of different perspectives or agendas that have emerged while drafting commitments.

Include details of who has been consulted and what consultation has been undertaken with civil society groups on these issues. Be up front when possible about the challenges that have faced the Interim Work Group on addressing these issues.

Use headlines if it helps to make the post simpler and easier to follow for the reader.

Some questions to consider in your drafting of the brief:

• What is the commitment?
• Why is this commitment important to open government and the OGP? You may like to include some details of the political context for this commitment.
• What is the current situation relating to this issue in Australia?
• What commitments have other countries made on this issue?
• Who has been involved in drafting this commitment?
• What challenges has the Interim Working Group faced in drafting this commitment?
• What issues have been identified as important in the creation of this commitment in the National Action Plan?
• What issues are not currently on the table in regards to this commitment and why?
• Can people still raise issues for consideration about this commitment?
• What is the timeframe for finalising the commitment?
• How can people get involved?

[kat]

@asherwolfie Thanks so much for putting that list together - Some excellent questions. Not sure we'll be able to stick to 800 words though. I've asked @petert10 (AOGPN interim convenor) and Phil (AOGPN steering committee) to have a look and indicate what the essential questions here.